Babies Born ~ May 2012 #1

Hi ladies
Sorry been MIA for ages.

Good to hear from you all and that you are enjoying motherhood despite the lack of sleep etc.

We are starting to settle now, - we've had our problems, Mylee has had a bad cold, bad thrush and didnt poo for six days and has had bad wind pains but she is 6 weeks tomorrow (can't believe it!) and she is really starting to settle, sometimes sleeping six hours straight at night. Mostly during the day she sleeps for 2-3 hours and then wants a feed. She's been breastfeeding well and putting on lots of weight. At her 4 week visit she was weighing 4.6kg's :)
But by no means has it been all rosy - ive had many a frustrating night particularly with her cold and wind pain. I think im only catching up on sleep now. DH has been great but its hard he doesnt have milky boobs lol :)

know all too well about DH not having the milk!! I think he uses it to his advantage..he goes to settle her, if it doesn work "she must be hungry" I know she isn't, but humour him and put her on for 5 mins, she either isnt interested or just spits it all back up, and I go, there you go, full. and he mumbles cause he has no excuse not to try and settle her =P

My current 'problem' is when to go to her... She is a squirmer.. so she will be asleep, but then squirm and make noises, and sometimes has her eyes open, but she isn't crying. I dont know if I should leave her when she is like that, and wait for her to cry to go to her, or when she starts stiring. but cause after a minute or two she does go back to sleep. this is mainly a problem at night, cause I don't want to go to her, if she is ok and will just go back to sleep, cause that would then be like me waking her up at night itms.... what does everyone else do?

addit ~ oh forgot to mention we ended up braving the outside world, was so easy...dont know why i was nervous, i got her in the wrap like a pro and she slept in it the whole time. =)

Teirae - sounds like your bub is coming out of a sleep cycle and if you leave her be, she'll hopefully roll into the next sleep cycle at night.
I spent a week at sleep school with our first son and it really saved us, so now we're using what we learnt with DD. From memory, they can have short sleep cycles and come back up to the surface (and can look awake etc, sometimes making a bit of noise, but not too unsettled) and if you leave them for awhile, hopefully they should roll into the next sleep cycle. Adults do this too throughout the night but I think we have longer sleep cycles and are pretty good at remaining asleep when we come to the surface.

If you pick a baby up who is near the surface, you'll wake them up properly and then it's tears on. Some babies take awhile to learn how to roll into the next sleep cycle, so you can stay nearby and shhhh them or pat them or rock them gently to help them remain asleep. Or do what I do and just lie in bed for ages, hoping that she'll quieten down again (usually works if she's not due a feed). Of you find that you're busy with other stuff (I'll just go to the loo before I get her up) and then she's quiet again (YAY!!!). I think that's why subsequent children are better sleepers b/c the parents are busy with older children and they have more opportunity to learn how to sleep for longer.

Also, if you place them to bed where they are to sleep, when they come out of a cycle they tend to go back to sleep again. However, if you hold them in your arms to sleep and then place them down somewhere else, they tend to wake up and think 'hey, this isn't where I was before' and wake up fully. We've just gone through this for the past few weeks and today I decided to pat her off to sleep in her cot (which took ages). Just about to get out of p.j's and it's not even midday yet :) Hang on, spoke too soon - she's awake again :(

Teirae, I have a squirmer and grunter as well.... I just leave her to do her own thing until she is really awake....I don't want to get into the habit of comforting her too much cause I like them to go to sleep with minimum input from me.

As for DH's you sound like your on a winner (well most of you do). I unfortunately have a fairly disinterested DH so handing off bubs to him doesnt happen much but Im pretty lucky that we havent had too many bad nights and I have been able to work through it all....

Had out four week weigh in today and she is now 3.8kg which is great...she is putting on weight like a champ so Im happy.

Yes Mylee squirms and grunts and then sometimes goes back to sleep too.. Im sleeping better at night now with her in her own room as I'm not waking to all her little noises like when she was in our room.

Great to hear Jacklicky and great to have you all in here to share info with :D

Don't want to wish away the time they are little for but what I would do for a full nights sleep!!
I am so tired!! I find this 4am feed the hardest as the other two kids are usually up by 7am and im not asleep till around 5 ish..... That's all :-)
Hope everyone is well xx

Hi May mummies!

Think I've just snuck in, 31st May...

I was due in June, so I havent shared the process with you guys!

How is everyone coping?

DD is feeding every 3 hours, I had mastitis last week, finally finished the antibiotics and now am coping with massively cracked nipples! I am finding savior in the nipple shields but hopefully I can ditch them soon!

Any one else have a hiccupy bubba?

Xx

Good to hear from u all sounds like all the bubs aee growing nicely with a common theme of sleep & booby problems. Im still dealing with cracks that dont want to heal, we had thrush now we have mastitis. Dd will sleep 2/3 hrs at a time for 2/3 nights then wont sleep at all for 3/4 nights. Im buggered.

hi!
yea DD is doing the 3 hour feeds at night (like clockwork to the minute). which we are getting smoother at and have our little system. During the day though...the last few days she has realised that there is a massivethough, amazing world out there that she doesn't want to miss anything of! and sleep just gets in the way of that =) so she doesnt sleep much during the day. most of the time though she is happy just to lay there and take it all in, I sometimes feel guilty tho, cause when she is lying there awake i'm not paying attention to her cause i'm doing other things.. but i guess she will let me know if she isnt happy right.
our feeding is going good, except for the squirting milk all over eachother, but its not as bad as it was =P I think its settling too.

hope i dont jinx myself...

hope everyones boobies are getting better!! I have actually been really lucky in terms of that...

yea DD hiccups =P so cute, but often to do get in the way of feeding,

Hi all, welcome little O to the May group.

Sorry to hear that some of you have been dealing with mastitis etc. I've been v, lucky not to have experienced it, but then again I've always had problems with low milk supply, so that could be why (?) From what my friends have told me, it's meant to be excruciating and pretty awful.

I've been back in to hospy on Monday morning - had massive bleeding and clots etc. They weren't sure what was wrong, given there didn't seem to be an infection and i'd had a caesar and the report said that all of the placenta had been taken out. After an ultrasound on Wed, they found 3mm of 'retained product' Anyway, my obs wasn't keen on doing a D&C post natally as she said there were risks involved and I sure wasn't keen on going back to theatre.
They decided to wait and see what happens, given the bleeding has eased off.
In amongst all this, one of our dogs broke her toe, and her foot is now bandaged. I now have to put a plastic bag on her foot when she goes outside, so that it doesn't get wet. Yep - as though having a newborn baby and two pre-schoolers wasn't enough work!

I've also had to book DD in for an ultrasound for her hips, as the creases don't line up. Silly MCHN mentioned that it could be hips out or nothing or spina bifida. WHAT??? The lovely GP who I saw this week, said that he wasn't concerned about her and that the ultrasound is just to rule anything out. The receptionist when i booked her appt said that she would put it through as a bulk bill for me (thankfully, b/c we've spent $$$$ on scans for me and x-rays for the dog this week). Never a dull moment. At least DD is sleeping better today :)

Jen82: I feel your pain! I didn't get the nipple thrush thank goodness but these cracks are horrendous. Are you using anything for yours? Are you on antibiotics for the mastitis? It's like one thing after another huh!

Teirae: that's good dd is awake during the day, at least you get better sleep at night :) my dd is fairly consistent with 3 hour feeds, with exception to today where she went 4 hours and now has only had one side!

Three graces: hope it all clears up by itself! Theatre would be the last thing you'd feel like. Hope your dd is all good with her hips. As a little girl they thought one of my legs was shorter, but it was just a misaligned hip. Hopefully hers is something like that and easy to fix.

AFM: tryin to recover still from the mastitis, the side that was worse seems to be slower on the milk now. Might have to look into a "milk" diet to boost it all again.

Eli is 4 weeks old today! Where has that time gone?? Hope your all well xx pretty quiet in here!

wow!!

yea DD has changed so much already, just in 2 weeks!! it does go fast =)
we are doing good. starting to go out etc.,, to the shops and walks etc.. i felt i had to just get out and do different stuff now so i now how things work away from the house otherwise we would get stuck and never leave the house!! im starting to get confidence back rather that completely 2nd guessing everything i did (which was what the first 2 weeks were like!) thats what being a mum is tho eh =)

im keen on hooking up with other mums irl tho... how early is too early to sus out the local play group do you think?? it does say birth to 4yo... but i think it might still be too early?

how everyone else doing??

Hi everyone, glad I found our May babies forum. Have really not had the time to check in, can't believe Sienna is 5 weeks old already! Sienna is settling quite well at night, still getting use to the cluster feeds during the day though and the unending washing. I have really sore breasts, hopefully they will improve soon... Everything is worth it though, and loving Sienna's smiles!

Feeding when it's cold weather = :(
How's everybody going? Especially those who have been deaing with mastitis and cracked nipples

We're having a good week this week, Olivia is settling really well now in her cot. I shouldn't get too excited as just when you think something's running smoothly, they mix it up a bit. Last week was pretty full on, until I searched on the internet and re-discovered the 'wonder weeks'. Oh yeah! Both my boys were really unsettled around the 5 week mark and I'd forgotten all about these developmental stages and the crap sleeps that go with them.

Teirae - I was going to say that playgroup is as much about the mum getting out and socialising as it is for the kids, so I'd recommend trying one out. It wasn't until we moved from Melb to the country two years ago that I joined one and it's been really worthwhile. Plus, I get to let my boys run amuck inside in winter (somewhere other than my lounge room ;)

We had the ultrasound for Olivia's hips today, which went well.
Hope that everybody is going well and managing to get some sleep at night.

Hi guys, sorry I don't get on much either but I do read. Chloe is nearly 6wks now and we are going well. She has given me a couple of 6-7hrs blocks of sleep which have been amazing although last night she went back to one 4hr then every 3hr feeds.....some of her night feeds are so quick its almost not worth getting up for (if she would let me not get up). She is so different from DD1 who used to take forever to have a feed. I dont think Im up for more than 20mins and that includes a nappy change!

She surprised me the other day by lifting her head off my shoulder to look around when we were going to get DD1 from daycare. I dont remember them doing that so early on....It was so cute. I came home and was telling DH and so he put her on his chest and she lifted her head up again and looked around.

Its funny having a bub with folds in her skin. DD1 hardly had a single one but Chloe has heaps and I find she gets stinky milk or something in them so I am constantly on the lookout for them and cleaning the folds with a wipe which she hates.....

Three Graces glad Olivia's ultrasound went well today...
Teirae, I try and get out as much as possible. Playgroup would be great for the social aspect...alot of mums use it for that rather than the kids....you might just have to check out a few to find one that fits....

Jacklicky: awesome name ;) our dd's share it! Know what you mean about the fat rolls! How do you get a fold on your forearm?? Haha!

Afm: feeding is getting better, mastitis is clearing and she actually did a 5 hour gap this morning so I got some continual sleep! Woohoo!

I know what you mean TG, just when I think Sienna is giving me more sleep at night she'll break the cycle. Although fingers crossed it has been four nights in a row that she's gone 6- 8 hours between feeds overnight. I had 6 straight hours of sleep last night, it was fantastic. Unfortunately I got mastitis last week, not fun, still on antibiotics and breasts starting to feel better.

How fast the time has gone though, can't believe Sienna is almost 7 weeks!

Hope everyone is going well.